Pat Carr SPELL OF SONG Photo by Rex Brunker Ten GANDY DANCER By GEORGE CRAEMER It is past mid-morning when trouble finally boils over into violence along the newly replaced rails at Woodside. A few moments pass before the railroad gang catches the swirl of action in the cinder dust along the right of way. Pete and George see the isolated struggle first. "Hey! Look! Tiny and Rocky decided to fight it out!" Pete says excitedly. "Yeah! Fighting for keeps, too." George breaks into a shambling run. "Come on. Might as well get a ringside seat. Be a dilly, with Steve's daughter probably in it." Members of a steel gang, better known as gandy dancers, do not have too many sources of entertainment. For this outfit, replacing old track for the Great Pacific in the timber country of the Northwest, there is perhaps comradeship at the bar in Steve's Palace, or a few games at the Luckyman's Club. This latter joint is actually just a room separated from the main floor at Steve's by a carelessly erected partition at the far end of the bar, with a hand-scrawled sign above the blanket which screens the entrance. The partition is a necessity to come within the state's gambling laws. The story begins in the "club." It is dealer's choice and Rocky is starting the fifth card in a game of draw. "All right, Tiny, that will be enough of that." Rocky's even tones carry an unmistakable edge. Tiny's huge shape hunkers down over his hand a little more. "Whaddya mean?" he says. "You know damned well what I mean. Steve, bring in a new deck!" The big man scowls, looks again at the cards nesting in his left palm, aces in hearts and spades and fives in spades and diamonds. "What the hell's the idea?" he explodes. "We're gonna play with this deck till we're through with this hand!" The roar of his voice is accompanied by the rattle of table and chips and the scrape of chairs as his massive chest and protruding midsection heave against the table. Tiny is about thirty-five, over six feet tall, and comes close to weighing 275 pounds. The unshaven giant, because of his size, has had his own way with everyone. Rocky kicks back his chair. "Okay. All of you put the cards back on the table, face down." (Turn to Page 26) Eleven